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In 1975, Pat McCormick was a NASA Langley Research Center scientist who led the Stratospheric Aerosol Measurements (SAM) experiment. SAM went to space as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this scientifically and politically important mission.

M. Patrick McCormick

For the past 46 years Dr. McCormick’s research has been focused on ground-based, airborne and satellite lidar and limb extinction (occultation) techniques for global characterization of aerosols, clouds, ozone and other atmospheric species.

Education: Ph.D. and M.A. Physics, College of William and Mary, 1967 and 1964

Project: Nabro Eruption

Analysis of the evolution of aerosol transport due to Nabro Eruption using CALIPSO and HYSPLIT model For many decades, people have known the immense effect of volcanic aerosol on the Earth’s atmosphere. Volcanic aerosol can pose a health hazard for any life on earth, as well as get into upper layers of the atmosphere and […]

Project: Research about Cirrus Clouds

As we all know, cirrus clouds play an important role in the Earth’s energy balance. Cirrus clouds have the dual/opposing characteristics depending on the balance between how much energy it traps from ground emitted infrared radiation and how much solar radiation cirrus reflect back to space. Cirrus clouds are distributed largely in tropical areas because […]

Project: Lidar Examination of Raman Extinction and Scattering

Raman Extinctinction and Scattering Using Lidar Returns Raman extinction provides a way to determine constituents of the atmosphere remotely using Lidar. This can be done using retrieved Lidar and radiosonde data in conjunction with the Raman scattering equation. Different molecules cause different wavelength shifts in the incident beam, which enables concentrations, densities, etc, to be […]

Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) is the important link between the earth’s surface and the free atmosphere. Determination of the PBL heights and the PBL structure is very important for understanding the dynamic of the PBL. The three-wavelength lidar signals can be used to calculate fractal dimension (FD). The the signal of fractal dimension could be […]

Project: HU Center for Atmospheric Research and Education (CARE)

The Atmospheric and Planetary Science (APS) Department at Hampton University (HU) has established the Center for Atmospheric Research and Education (CARE) in collaboration with NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and partners at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Supported by NASA’s MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) Program, CARE will […]